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Listening BoothYOUR MUSIC ONLY. Don't post music from your label or DJ night. No podcasts or radio shows, just individual tracks. Give some feedback, get some in return.
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[Genre] Artist - Title

This is relatively more laid back than what I've been doing over the past few months, so I'm a little worried about whether it takes too long for this song to get going and whether the wait is worth it when it finally does. I need some input. Does this song do enough to justify the length, or is there fat to be trimmed? I also hope it doesn't sound like butt, but it feels to me like it's lacking in the high end. This isn't fully mastered yet, I just threw it through a limiter and dithered it so that it would at least have similar levels to a final product.

OK..I'm not going to blow smoke up your as and say this was a pleasure to listen to..it wasn't..but it could have been. Where to start..

Basically that arp/key thing that comes in at 19/20 secs sounds like it's being played by a drunk..it sounds out of sync with every thing else. IF this was something you were going for, then cool..though it then begs the question why you would do that to your own track.

The over-all sound is good and I get what your going for with the track, but it really does lack variation in the mix. It's a case of much of the same throughout and not much else is happening..you need to put some more into that mix..counter melodies, tones, various elements to fill it out. As it stands, it's just over 5 mins of the same repeated phrase.

Sorry, I know this is readying like I'm shitting all over your track..but I'm not, trust me..think of it as "tough love". It's cool to hear you trying your has at slower stuff..you just need to relax into it a little more and play with it a little..you'll get there, no worries.

Hope you take on board some, if not all, of what I've said here and give it another go..I'd love to hear where you take it.

That's A-OK. This felt really challenging to work on, I was starting to think towards the end that that was because I was doing something wrong. But I think anyone here knows what it's like when you're in your own little world and you make some obviously dumb decisions. I wrote that thing that comes in at 20 seconds before anything else, and then struggled to make everything else try and fit that rhythm. And I used a different drum machine that didn't give me the level of control that I'm used to, so I was dealing with that on top of weird rhythms.

Fun fact though, the project bpm for this and the track in my sig are both 106 (like, the whole time), so this isn't even *that* slow, just really weird and stuck in half-time for half the song.

That's A-OK. This felt really challenging to work on, I was starting to think towards the end that that was because I was doing something wrong. But I think anyone here knows what it's like when you're in your own little world and you make some obviously dumb decisions. I wrote that thing that comes in at 20 seconds before anything else, and then struggled to make everything else try and fit that rhythm. And I used a different drum machine that didn't give me the level of control that I'm used to, so I was dealing with that on top of weird rhythms.

Fun fact though, the project bpm for this and the track in my sig are both 106 (like, the whole time), so this isn't even *that* slow, just really weird and stuck in half-time for half the song.

Yeah..I've had a few of them over the years..bits that you just love, but can't seem to make click with whatever you put in the mix with it. It can be a real shame having to drop those bits..but you don't always have to..kinda depends on how the track develops and what else you use in the mix.

Seriously, what I said sounds way more harsh than it was intended to and I'm sorry about that, but I stand by what I said. There's things in that mix that you need to address in order to get it to work..and they are nothing you can't handle.

Also, respect once again for trying your hand at a slower track..it's not easy to switch things down like that when you've gotten used to higher tempos. That might sound kinda stupid to some, but it's not, as slower tempo tracks require a different approach to both design and mixing in general.

Anyway, as I said before, good luck with it and I'm certainly interested in hearing where you take this in the end.

Okay, it took a bit because me daw crashed when I was almost done and I lost a lot of work, but I re-worked this a bit. I trimmed a lot of fat and tried for a few hours to write some new music for the second half, but I really couldn't come up with anything. I wasn't sure how quantized you guys wanted that part, so I went with really quantized (as in barely any syncopation), which changed the feel rhythm, so I sped up the BPM from 106 to 112. Then I actually mastered this, so it has some multiband compression to bring back those highs (maybe overdone, but I found it was clearing up the mix a lot, so I just went crazy), just a little bit more saturation, and then a limiter that I basically used as a gain stage (the dynamic range on the track was *only* 13.5 db after mastering) and one of my good dithers from airwindows.

I think what remains is a bit more work on that build into the "drop" and a re-work of the melody in that part. Not sure if that's going to mean a new instrument (adding one is what caused my daw to crash) or just some new midi for (likely) that first instrument to come in after the piano. Other than that, I'm reasonably satisfied with this given how awkward and janky it was at first.

Anyways, would love to hear what you all think of how it's coming along and any other ideas for tweaks to wrap this up.

I respect. I really now the tonality of all the instruments you're using. I also like the slight phase that all of the chords have. My only real negative with this track is that it seems like the chords loop a bit too much for my liking. Even if you just switched the inversion of some of the chords every now and again, the harmony needs a little bit more variation. I like the arpeggio that comes in around 2:20, except the volume of that instrument is a little too high IMO. Overall good job.

Okay, it took a bit because me daw crashed when I was almost done and I lost a lot of work, but I re-worked this a bit. I trimmed a lot of fat and tried for a few hours to write some new music for the second half, but I really couldn't come up with anything. I wasn't sure how quantized you guys wanted that part, so I went with really quantized (as in barely any syncopation), which changed the feel rhythm, so I sped up the BPM from 106 to 112. Then I actually mastered this, so it has some multiband compression to bring back those highs (maybe overdone, but I found it was clearing up the mix a lot, so I just went crazy), just a little bit more saturation, and then a limiter that I basically used as a gain stage (the dynamic range on the track was *only* 13.5 db after mastering) and one of my good dithers from airwindows.

I think what remains is a bit more work on that build into the "drop" and a re-work of the melody in that part. Not sure if that's going to mean a new instrument (adding one is what caused my daw to crash) or just some new midi for (likely) that first instrument to come in after the piano. Other than that, I'm reasonably satisfied with this given how awkward and janky it was at first.

Anyways, would love to hear what you all think of how it's coming along and any other ideas for tweaks to wrap this up.

Yeah..much better to my ears, though that motif you introduce at 0.17 goes on for a full minute, up to 1.17..I'm thinking that's still too long, even more so given you're leading the listener into that epic second-half, where that, too, goes on for a bit.

That's all I would suggest really, regarding the structure of this piece..cut that bit at the start a little. I know it might feel counter-intuitive to do so, but I really think it will pull the track together and bring balance to the second half.

OK, hopefully this is a final mix in all but name. I shortened up the beginning. The song is now structured (in loose terms) with a 1 minute intro, a 1 minute build, a 1 minute drop, and then the outro to the end of the song. I mixed in some new inversions, but I'm honestly not sure you can hear them because I only had three tracks following those. I left my basses and melodies (there's a second melody now, btw) alone.

So my last concerns are really just any clashing between the notes I've changed plus the new instruments I've added and the rest of the stuff. If you just want to take a look at that, you can just check the 2-3 minute section to see where most of the changes were made between this and previous versions. If I need to do it, I'll go back and change the basses to keep them in line with the chords, but I'd prefer to leave those as a sort of foundation for the listener to hold on to through the other stuff. I think my melodies are good because all the chord changes are just inversions, (one of the melodies is actually just a bunch of inversions) so I shouldn't need to change anything there, my only concern with those is rhythmically, as I have two melodies in different rhythms playing over each other and the rhythmic stabs (which are another rhythm) and the drums keeping actual time. If that's too much, I'll move stuff around or get rid of something.

this is better than the previous version for me, there are just a couple of things regarding the mix: I sometimes miss the snare at it gets overwhelmed by the other elements. also, I find a bit cheesy those "zap" toms, especially during the big arpeggio starting around 2.05.

so im listening to your last version - having skimmed the other 2 or 3 - for me the main thing that hasnt been addressed in any of these versions, is the snare.... IMO its way way too low man, its like a feather, when it should be cracking, especially as your chords are on the 1 and 3. There does need to bit a bit more sparkle id say, hats and the drum buss might individually want like a little high shelf.... the kick could maybe do with a bit more definition as well... melodies all seem ok to me, nice infact.... this could be a great tune.... bigup

Tbh, my ears didn't catch any of those things you were worried about..I thought everything seemed to sit well enough and I liked how the track now flows much better in general.

As the guys have already touched on, there's a few little things you could do that would also help to bring this track on and make it shine..but..as it currently stands..it's a big improvement on the first version.

Thanks so much for all of your input everyone! I made some quick tweaks that I think address the issues with the drums, this should be a final mix unless I messed something else up in the process. I'll probably make it public and downloadable (and update the link) in 12-24 hours if the drums are fixed. Just give it a quick jump around if you see this before then. I'll keep a look out for any of your stuff 'round these parts and chip in if I can.

One last question, any ideas what to label this genre-wise? I'm going with electronic because that's fact and ambient for now because it fit best of anything I know, but it feels a bit fast and not like something you'd space out to.

You've really cleaned up a lot of things about it. As far as the being the same for a large section of it, idk but I feel like it could be a start of a solo. I just kind of hear it in my head that way. It wouldn't change the tone of in a bad way but it would give something that you can sit back and enjoy whereas a continuous repetitive pattern has me feel like I'm expecting something.

I like the tune, I don't think it takes too long to get to the point. But the mix is a little flat, a bit scooped? Unless you've got a sub bass in there I can't hear on my monitors it is lacking a little low end energy for me. Really like the change up with the kind electro beat. A lot of interesting genre juxtapositions here. Maybe this is a crazy comment, but I want less of the main riff at the end. Not that it's bad. But this is one of those tracks I'd totes double play listening to the LP/EP its on if I was in the car on my commute. Just to take the journey again.